Machine for stripping tobacco leaves



June 16, 1931. -c. G. B. ROTHELIUS I MACHINE FOR STRIPPING TOBACCO LEAVES Filed Jan. 7. 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet l a. 6 a awake/(MS June 'lfi, 1931. c. G. B. ROTHELIUS 1 MACHINE FOR STRIPPING TOBACCO LEAVES Filed Jan. 7. 1929 s Sheets-Shet 2 7 u W/Q June 16, 1931.

c. G. B. ROTHELIUS 1,810,792

MACHINE FOR STRIPPING- TOBACCO LEAVES I Filed Jan. 7, 1929 3 Sheets-Sheet 3 Fla. 4-

K. 6 8. @MJ Lg Patented June 16, 1931 iidiiifnii sesamoa or srooxrioifi, SWEbEN memes sesame menace The present invention relates to machines for stripping tobacco leavesof the type provided with a gripper or the like by means of which the stem of the le'aves ijs gripped prefj-.

er'ably at some di'stancefrom the point, of

the leaf whereupon the gripper and the leaf aregiven a suitable movement in relation to' each other.

Inconsequence of the resistance arising for different causes against the tearing out ofthe stem the latter may break especially at or in the-vicinity of the place where it is gripped and where it is usually rather weak.

It ma'y alsohappenthat the gripper lets I5 go the stem when during the stripping the resistance against the tearing out of the stern becomes too powerful, for instance owing to the stem branches becoming thicker as they are locatednearer the base of theleaf. The

stem thus attached to the leaf then enters with the same into the machine, for instance a booking machine so that a time-wasting elimination of these stems must be 'efiected by hand. p

v Stripping machines ofthe present type should preferably be provided with a socalledclea'ning' device, i. e. a device forcleaning the stem as it is torn out of the leaf from leaf por tions sticking thereto. The resistance against the tearing out of the stem will then be increased asthe cleaning member or mem bers operate on the stem in a direction opposite to that in which the stem moves'on' being torn from the leaf.

The device according to the present inven tion which has for its object to remove the said inconveniences is especially contem-,

plated to be adapted to stripping machines of the kind described which are provided with a cleaning device such as previously set forth. Of course the invention may as well be ap;- plied to stripping machines without such ean g v e The invention is substantially, characterizfed in that a roller device for feedingthe stem is arranged at the pathof movement of the gripper in such a way that it is ke'p'tin operative when the gripper passes by the same, but thereafter assumes such a position that it will grip the stem and effect the continued tearing out ofthe 'stemf from leaf et w th r n e d Qffih g ip-p The invention is illustrated-in the accompanying drawings where,Fig.,1,-s1hows a device according-to the invention viewedfrom:

one side with the parts in starting position; es, 2 s ws; th rrangementv w r the; front in thedirecti'on of. the arrow (11in Fig. 1. Fig. 3 shows viewed fromthe side and partially in section the-positions of the cleaning device and the stem feedingrol'l'er device just as thegripper passesthese devices. Fig. 4 shows the position of said devices inthe moment when the gripper has passedv themq. Fi-g., 5 is a sectionon the line VV-in Fig 4.; Fig. 6 i'sfa section on the The tobacco leaf 30 isthi'aded: onto. the gripper 1 when the latterjassumes its upper position (Fig. 1) the gripper gripping the; leaf stem- 31 more or less near theipoint of theleaf which pointextends inwards over the lower 3' of the two band paths 2 and 3 which are movable towards andf-rom one ah:-'

other, and which in; their ,shutup position (fs'eeFigsi. 3; and 4) form a device for feeding the leaf into the machine, for instance ab'ooking machine as in the jexampleshown.

4': designates the carrier jof theggripper; said carrier having the formiof an arm which may he. swung upca nd down about-the shaft 5 and which transfers the gripper. from said up per position to alower po'sit'ion and then takes it; backtojthe starting position,- etc.

According to the embodiment; shown by way, of example the leaf and the stem are. givensucha movement: in relationto one an: other that the stripping. takes place. on: the, front side of the forelroller 32-o1f tl1e'-feedihg path 3 (as shown in Figs; 3 andl). f

The saidroller device, for feeding andtearing out the stemafter the latter has been partially tor'n-ontby the gripper consists in the embodiment shownof two rollers or cylinders6 and? of which the-one 6"is' securedto a shaft 9 journalled in the frame 8 aii'dis'rhtated inthe sense of the arrow 10 (Fig. .1) from the driving shaft 1-1 of the machin'by means of the sprocket 12 fiXedon'thefsha-ft 9,:

ion

the driving chain 14. The other roller 7 is rotatably journalled on a pin 15 which is fixed at the upper forked part 17 of the arm 16. The arm 16 is rigidly secured to a shaft 18 rotatably journalled in the frame 8 and receives a movement towards and from the roller 6 by a suitable device. In the drawing this movement-transferring device consists partly of a cam disk 19 arrangedon the driven shaft 20 with which disk cooperates a roller '21 ar-' ranged on a fork 22 embracing a guide member' 25 on the shaft 20, which fork is connected with an arm 24 by means of the pulling rod 23, said arm 24 being rigidly secured to the shaft 18, and partly of the spring 26 interposedbetween the frame 8 and the arm 24. The peripheral surfaces of the rollers 6 and 7 are usually smooth but in certain cases furrowed preferably as shown in the drawing, i. e. their periphery is undulated in cross section. 1 V The two members 33 and 34 of the cleaning device cooperating with the stem are situated rather immediately above the rollers 6 and 7, viz. between said "rollers and the fore guide roller 32 of the lower band path 3. One of the members 34 is stationary and provided-in the surface facing the stem with a small recess for said stem, whereas the other member 33 consists of a toothed wheel or a cutter,

secured to a shaft 35, which is rotatably journalled on the upper forked end of an arm 36, the lower end of which is rotatably j ourna-lled on the shaft 18. The cutter shaft 35 is rotated in the sense of the arrow 37 from the driving shaft 11 by means of the rope pulley 38 secured to the last-mentioned shaft, the rope 39, the rope pulley 40 arranged on the tube 41 which encloses the shaft 18, the rope pulley 42 also arranged on the said tube, the roper43 and the rope pulley 44 on the shaft 35 of the cutter 33. r r p The member34 is secured, by means of a screw, to a cross rod 54, fastened between the long shanks of two forks 51 which are arranged on the shaft of the guide roller 32 of the belt path 3 and are kept clamped to this shaft by means of a clamp screw 52. J

The arm .36, carrying the cutter wheel 33 is kept engaged against an abutment 46 on the arm 16 by'means of an abutment on said arm 36 under the influence of the pulling spring'47' interposed'between the arms.

In orderto prevent the stem from coiling itself up on the rollers and also to keep the roller surfaces clean a scraper 27 is provided at one of the rollers or, as shown in the drawing, at both of them. One of these is adjustably secured to a member 28 rigidly secured to the cross bar 54 whereas the other one is adjustably fixed at the forked endfl7 of the arm 16. 1: I

When the gripper 1 assumes itsupper position, the roller 7 and the cutter wheel 33 are T in their outer (left, Fig. 1) extreme position in order to afford a free passage for the gription' towards the roller 6, the arm 36 being caused to follow until its lower end 48 en-. gages the abutment 49 on the cross bar 50 belonging to the frame. The arm 36 with the cutter wheel 33has then reached its inner eX- treme position, and the cleaning begins. The gripper has then ,just passed between the cleaning members 33 and 34 and .is passing between the rollers '6 and 7;

The arm 16with the roller 7 continues, however, its inward movement towards the shaft 6 under the influence of the spring 26 until the roller 7 arrives in operative'position (Fig. 4) in relation to the roller 6, Whereby the stem, in consequence of the continued downward movement of the gripper, arrives between the rollers and is clamped between them, and whereby the rotated roller G'brings the roller 7 into rotation so that the stem is pulled (fed) downwards with suitable velocity. The stripping, i. e. the tearing out of the stem, which has previously been efiected by the gripper, will thus now be transferred to the rollers.

At the, movement of the arm 16 back to its initial position, which movement is governed by the cam disk 19, the abutment 46 on the arm 16 engages the abutment 45 on the arm the gripper, after the rollers have caught the i.

stem, moves with a velocity greater than the velocity imparted to the stem by the rollers,

whereby thestein is pulled out of the gripper and the latter may begin its upward movement to the initial position earlier so that the last-mentioned movement need not follow so rapidly as would otherwise be the case. p

The velocity of rotation of therolle'rs in relation to the downward movement of the gripper may of-c'ourse also be such thatthe rollers andthe gripper, the rollers havingcaught the stem, effect the continued strip- 1 .7 ping process in cooperation.

The driving device of the gripper may also be so arranged that the gripper stops and opens when the rollers have undertaken its task. The path of the gripper is thereby shortened and the gripper may thus return relatively slowly.

The embodiment shown and described is let from a tobacco leaf, thecombinationof a device for gripping the leaf and moving it into the machine, a gripper adapted to seize stem after it has beenremoved from the leaf, 3 said cleanlng devlce be1ng arranged in the I path of the gripper, and means whereby said cleaning device is kept in an inoperative position when passed by the gripper, but immediately after this has happened assumes 7 an operative position so as to clean the stem.

8. Ina machine for stripping thestem from a tobacco leaf, the combination of a device for gripping the leaf and moving it into the machine, a gripper adapted to seize the stem of the leaf, means whereby the said device and said gripper are moved in relation to each other to cause-the stem to be pulled from the leaf, a device for cleaning or scraping 0E leaf portions sticking to the stem after it has been removed from the leaf, said cleaning device consisting of two members arranged one on each side of the path of the stem,carrying members for' said cleaning members, one of said carrying members being movable in a direction towards and from the path of the stem, a roller device for feeding the stem, said roller device consisting of two feeding rollers which are arranged one on each side of the path of movement of the stem, a member carrying one of these rollers and movable in a direct-ion towards and from the other roller, and means whereby the carrying member of one roller carries the carrying member of one cleaning member along its movement andbrings the latter into andout of operative position.

9. In a machine for stripping the stem from a tobacco leaf, the combination of a device for gripping the leaf and moving it into the machine, a gripper adapted to seize the stem of the leaf, means whereby the said device and said gripper are moved in relation to each other to cause the stem to be pulled from the leaf, a roller device for feeding the stem, arranged beside the path of movement of the gripper, means whereby] said device is kept in an inoperative position when passed by the gripper, at the beginning of the stripping process, but immediately after this has happened assumes an operative position so as to grip the stem and cooperate in or effect the continued stripping of the stem from the leaf, and a scraper arranged in proximity to the rolling device and adapted to prevent the stem from coiling itself up about the rolling device and to keep this latter clean.

In' testimony whereof I affix my signature.

CARL GEORG ,BERTIL ROTHELIUS. 

